Instagram’s new anti-bullying tools could help control abuse on the platform.
A new feature will notify people when their comment may be considered offensive before it’s posted.
Instagram says this intervention gives people a chance to reflect and undo their comment and prevents the recipient from receiving the harmful comment notification.
“From early tests of this feature, we have found that it encourages some people to undo their comment and share something less hurtful once they have had a chance to reflect,” said Adam Mosseri, Head of Instagram.
The picture sharing platform has been under pressure to deal with its bullying problem after high profile cases.
Another tool called Restrict is designed to help young people filter abusive comments without resorting to blocking others.
“We’ve heard from young people in our community that they’re reluctant to block, unfollow, or report their bully because it could escalate the situation, especially if they interact with their bully in real life,” Mr Mosseri said.
“Some of these actions also make it difficult for a target to keep track of their bully’s behaviour.”
And he added: “We wanted to create a feature that allows people to control their Instagram experience, without notifying someone who may be targeting them. Once you Restrict someone, comments on your posts from that person will only be visible to that person. You can choose to make a restricted person’s comments visible to others by approving their comments. Restricted people won’t be able to see when you’re active on Instagram or when you’ve read their direct messages.”
Updates from the head of Instagram @mosseri about our commitment to lead the fight against online bullying ❤️ https://t.co/Co2rgsuJvt pic.twitter.com/tlngJftizT
— Instagram (@instagram) July 8, 2019
